NBA Trade Rumors: Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith Join Forces In Sacramento Kings

Jul 17, 2014 05:20 PM EDT

Some Big deals have happened in the NBA this offseason, but others are still to come, with one possibility being the Detroit Pistons and the Sacramento Kings cutting a deal that could send Josh Smith to Sacramento.

Sources told ESPN the Kings have continued to express interest in Smith and the parties are on the hunt for a third team that could help facilitate the deal.

Detroit and Sacramento have been involved in discussions that would potentially put Smith in the same frontcourt with DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay.

Smith has over $40 million on his contract, and many might question why this is a good idea for Sacramento, but many believe Smith's issues in Detroit were more personality issues, and a change of environment may be just what the athletic forward needs.  There is no doubt Smith as the talent to be a star in the NBA, and he played well in Atlanta before being traded to Detroit before last season.

ESPN's sources in Sacramento claim the team is giving Smith serious consideration, largely because the discussions to date have not required them to part with any players in their long-term plans and would also add a versatile and athletic defender to a roster that badly needs one, given how much Kings coach Mike Malone is known to want a defensive team.

It is also widely known that Smith and Boston free agent Rajon Rondo are friends and have wanted to play together for some time.  Some think the addition of Smith could help the Kings land Rondo, another of their top trade targets.  

Jay King from Mass Live notes that the Kings would want some assurance that Rondo would hang around for more than a year if they were to pursue him, and they would have to offer him enough money to draw him away from Boston.